House Republicans are again calling on Energy Secretary Steven Chu to release information on the financial conditions of every loan guarantee that the department has finalized under the controversial program that provided a half-billion dollars to the now-defunct solar energy company Solyndra.

Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee believe that in the wake of Solyndra's spectacular failure, Congress should now review each of the other 27 loans -- totaling about $15.5 billion -- that have been finalized since 2009 under a renewable energy loan program that was funded with stimulus dollars.

SPECIAL REPORT

Solyndra, a solar manufacturer that was given a $535 million loan guarantee and touted by the White House as a model for the clean energy economy, has filed for bankruptcy. E&E examines how it got there and what it means. Click here to read the report.

Today's demand comes as something of a final slap by the committee's GOP members at Jonathan Silver, who led the loan program for DOE for almost two years. Today is also Silver's last day at DOE.

The agency announced last night that Silver was leaving the government to work at a private-sector think tank (Greenwire, Oct. 6).

While Republicans have called for Silver's scalp for weeks in the wake of Solyndra's bankruptcy filing, Chu made it clear in a news release yesterday that Silver would have been welcome to stay at DOE and continue to guide the department's other loan programs.

In their letter to Chu today, committee Republicans pointed to a statement this week by President Obama in which he indicated that, despite Solyndra, the government's overall loan guarantee investment portfolio is doing well.

"We sincerely hope that this is true and that no further taxpayer dollars are at risk," the Republican members wrote. "However, as Solyndra executives and numerous members of the Administration repeatedly told us the same thing about Solyndra during the last seven months, we have a responsibility to inquire further."

The members said they were especially concerned about some $9 billion in loan guarantees that were "rushed out the door" in the final weeks of the renewable energy loan program, which ended on Sept. 30.

The committee has given DOE until Oct. 14 to produce the documents.